"What is 'real'? If 'real' is what we can hear and taste and touch and see, then real is nothing more than electrical signals sent to our brain..." - Morpheus, The Matrix

I found this really kool article about scientists making a machine that can 'read thoughts' - well, sorta. Here's a little excerpt:

"...During calibration, the person imagines moving his left or right hand. The signals picked up by the electrodes are processed in a specially written computer program that filters out signals from thoughts not related to moving the object and homes in on the brain activity responsible for the imagination of movements. Once the person is in sync with the computer, he can imagine moving his hands or feet or rotating an object to trigger an action on the screen...."

So of course, this all made me think of the story of the Matrix, and Morpheus' quote above. In other words, if I can figure out what the electrical signal looks like that goes from nose to my brain when I smell a flower, why can't I duplicate that electrical signal, and make your brain think you're smelling a flower?

That's why The Matrix is so deep is cuz, why can't that actually happen? The reason the robots were able to create the Matrix for humans is cuz, according to the story, they had mapped every single part of the human brain - they knew exactly how it worked, and how to interface with it.

That's the same thing these typewriter guys are doing - today they're learning what part of the brain does the left hand, next the right, then all the fingers, then which part of the brain can see red, which sees blue, then they put all that 'eye' data together and they can display what you the person is looking at right onto the monitor!

So far, they're dealing with output [from the brain] only. But maybe one day they'll find a way to INPUT. That's where it gets kool, as well as scary. Imagine uploading your college textbook into your brain. But then again, also think of 'Total Recall' (w/Arnold Schwarzenegger) where they screw with your mind - not good.

If only we could all live another 100 years, and I bet we'd be there. Maybe my 4-year old nephew will be able to experience playing a video game using only his brain!